ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the competing logics of German work organizations and cultural models reflected in the everyday life of fathers. After a brief overview on the institutional and cultural contexts of fatherhood in Germany, it refers to empirical data of a recent qualitative study about fathers in work organizations. The text examines how fathers in demanding expert and management positions deal with their ideas of fatherhood in a career oriented organizational context. As a result, it shows that the routines of the organization and their underlying hidden rules undermine efforts to establish new practices of work–family balance. Fathers’ strategies to make their fatherhood invisible contribute to reinforcing the hidden rules of organizations.
